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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24409354">1/7th</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dropout_ninja/pseuds/dropout_ninja'>dropout_ninja</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>If We Could Just Be What We Wanted [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Transformers: Prime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dead siblings, Friendship, Gen, Post-War, Protective Siblings, Recovery, odd friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:15:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,731</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24409354</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dropout_ninja/pseuds/dropout_ninja</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Laserbeak tries to find her voice again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Laserbeak &amp; Rafael "Raf" Esquivel, Laserbeak &amp; Soundwave</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>If We Could Just Be What We Wanted [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761130</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Predaking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This takes place sometime after the end of chapter 105 of If I Could Just Know What You Wanted.  Spoilers for that fic are included in here.<br/>Blatant misuse of parentheses and inevitable little english mistakes (this is unbeta'd) lay ahead.<br/>Transformers and its characters do not belong to me. All rights go to their respective owners.</p><p>In which Soundwave (and, by association, Laserbeak) is told to 'socialize'.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had reminded him of a symbiote.  That much had been obvious when it had first come aboard and began to show signs of intelligence.  </p><p>Not that it had mattered.  Soundwave hadn't approached it.  Soundwave hadn't cared.  </p><p>Now, things were different.  They were supposed to be, anyway.</p><p>Lord Megatron had spoken with him many times.  As she always did, Laserbeak listened.  Anything said to Soundwave was heard by her.  </p><p>They were meant to let go.  To let go of violence and tyranny and everything the decepticon cause had devolved into.  It hardly made her upset.  </p><p>They were meant to try to heal.  To work towards a voice and opinions and a life away from <em>his</em> side.  That.  That did not compute nearly as well.  </p><p>It did not for Soundwave either.  But the mech had been told to do so by Lord Megatron.  He could not ignore a direction.  </p><p>The first step was to begin approaching others besides their master.  </p><p>Orion Pax was an option.  He was someone they knew from before the falling out.  They had exchanged small words one time.  It could not be impossible to do it again.  He was also so unchanged: an icon from the past, fallen out of time.  </p><p>But he was Orion Pax.  There was...too much.  Too much there that would keep them both mute and icy around the archivist.</p><p>The other former (or those who had chosen to retain the badge [exercising a freedom Pax had reminded Lord Megatron they had: despite the orders to disband, the decepticons were more than their founder- under that logic, so long as they did not fight the peace, they were free to retain the badge.  That logic did not altogether resonate with either Soundwave or Laserbeak; they had, after all, only remained with the faction because their loyalties were to its master]) decepticons were also an option.  </p><p>Starscream had a dossier larger than any other decepticon they had served with.  He was easy enough to read and would, therefore, not be dangerously unpredictable territory.  He was also Starscream.  </p><p>Dreadwing had turned aside loyalty to Lord Megatron and had become a rather unattractive option through doing so.  They would not approach him.</p><p>Shockwave was...</p><p>At a loss for better options, Shockwave was chosen.  Soundwave made the decision silently.  Laserbeak's support of it was also silent.  </p><p>...This direction from Lord Megatron was going to be difficult to achieve.</p><hr/><p>Through Shockwave, they found the clones.  It had not been Soundwave's purpose to find any- he had rather set aside thinking on their presence after the fight aboard the warship with the one called Predaking.  </p><p>The scientist had attempted to hide for some time.  Because of his wartime activities, he was not exactly a very popular mech.  Laserbeak found it truly interesting.  Since Soundwave had not done much <em>directly</em> in vorns (ever since Lord Megatron had regaled him to a deckside officer), many had forgotten his combat capabilities.  The skill honed in the pits went from common knowledge to trivial.  Instead, he became feared for the power he held outside of combat.  The hints of betrayals uncovered, the words replayed to be used against their speaker, the every steps and communications seen and recorded.  Shockwave was feared for a very different reason.  He held power, yes, but he was a different category.  Soundwave could uncover treachery or growing, repeated failures; Shockwave could be the consequence of what the spymaster had seen and reported to their leader.  </p><p>Laserbeak knew where the true power lay.  And yet they were mostly forgotten in the wake of this new world.  There were more and more demands each cycle, with each new ship- demands for heads that would never be offered.  Shockwave had racked up quite a count of angry enemies.  They did not want his functioning to continue.  They wanted his spark in a box.  They wanted so much and were quite vocal on it.  But they did not share those desires towards either of them.  Laserbeak was still recorded as a mere drone, after all.  Soundwave had always been good at being forgotten (until it was too late to remember that his audials were <em> always </em> listening).  </p><p>So the autobots had wanted Shockwave supervised and the decepticons had protested at his independence and the predacon clones had stood in the middle between being among those that hated him and wanting his laboratory experiments to continue.  </p><p>For now, they had.  But only to finish those clones already in operation.  The Allspark had released new predacon sparks when it had released the first wave of sparklings.  That satisfied the predacon push for more of their kind.  Orion Pax had made it explicitly clear that, no matter if the Allspark was returning life to this extinct species, there would be no more deaths of those clones already mostly finished.  </p><p>Or else Shockwave would not find himself in a position he'd enjoy.</p><p>Even if this world refused to prosecute for any crimes commited during or before the war, a murder or two after it had finished?  Good enough to allow the energon thirsty crowds their access to the scientist.  </p><p>Shockwave was no fool.  He had returned to working on his remaining clones passively.  </p><p>It was in his current laboratory that Soundwave found him.  Laserbeak listened to the one sided conversation, but did not pay cognitive attention to it.  Shockwave was a bore and always had been.</p><p>For some time, Soundwave merely stood around and watched the scientist work.  There was very little he could consider doing.  So he and his symbiote did as they had for millions of stellar cycles: they observed.  </p><p>This hardly seemed to be what Lord Megatron had intended for them, but what else could he have expected?  They did not <em> socialize</em>.  </p><p>Shockwave left the room to enter another.  He did so wordlessly.  Soundwave followed with just as few words in recognition of this movement.  The new room had predacon tanks in them.  One lay suspended in golden fluid.  Laserbeak found as much data on it as she could see from it.  No doubt it would find an alt mode as well and join the rest of the cybertronians on this planet.  </p><p>She had never had more forms than just the one.  A few of her siblings had once had altmodes.  Rumble and Frenzy had been deployers.  A minicon form and a smaller rectangular base to rest on the flats of Soundwave's arms.  Ratbat and Ravage had both had alts that allowed them to dock onto the backs of their carrier's legs.  Buzzsaw had the same frame as she did.  They had not needed a secondary, smaller form to dock onto Soundwave.  They had what they had and never found any more.</p><p>Sometimes she wondered if others could see the marks on him where other symbiotes were meant to rest.  Soundwave did not believe many did.  He had said as much, all those vorns ago when they still spoke.  It made them less of a target.  Or so they assumed.  Even if Ratbat had still been targeted by one who had recognized Soundwave as a carrier and the little symbiote as a deployer.  An altmode had not helped keep him alive.  </p><p>Then again, he had been bound to die.</p><p>They all shared a single spark.  He had been 1/7th.  The three of them had all lived on with a spark only 3/7ths its old flare.  </p><p>It was not surprising that his own portion could not fight for life.  She understood the pain of living on so little life.  She could accept why he had let himself fade after a wound that hardly was life threatening.</p><p>But she did not ever consider doing the same.  </p><p>So they reduced to 2/7ths and functioned on.  </p><p>If <em>this</em> was functioning.  It was reduced and dull and silent.  </p><p>What would it be like to have a world of noise again?</p><p>Soundwave had approached the tank and was staring into it at the creature within: one thought of as mindless while displaying intelligence; one considered a beast because it talked without words.  </p><p>Once, she and Buzzsaw had returned to their corner between the warehouse and the club in pain.  Buzzsaw had tittered over her and tried to spread himself over her shaking frame.  Soundwave had found out what was wrong soon enough.  They had been harassed.  Energon had been offered with sotto voices:<em> feed the bird</em>, they'd laughed; <em> nothing quite like tossing candies at stupid pets</em>.  When she'd squawked at them, they'd grown angry.  The humiliating offering turned to pelted energon gels.  Maybe they should have just taken what had been offered.  They were both so hungry.  Buzzsaw had denied the thought.  <em> Not worth it. </em> She'd agreed with her twin.  It hadn't been.  They were no animals.  They were not dumb.  But they were seen as such.  They spoke in ways most could not grasp and so they were not heard.  Protests ignored, pleas pointless.  It was all of that which led her to upset and required the comfort of her brother and creator.  </p><p>The memories were not limited to herself.  While she reminisced, their shared spark did as well.  Soundwave watched her thoughts as he always did.  </p><p>The predacon in the tube continued its recharge.  The decepticon scientist continued his work.  The duo left that laboratory and flew in silence.</p><hr/><p>When Predaking asked on their presence, they said nothing.  It did not prevent either from remaining.  </p><p>They limited themselves to a few breems a day.  Anything more saw them returning to their old routine: surveillance and reporting.  That was not their mission here.  Reverting to it meant only defeating the purpose of their approach.  </p><p>The predacons were, as a group, too loud.  The original on his own was far less frustrating.  He had a sophisticated intelligence to himself.  He spoke in a manner not unlike Lord Megatron and utilized logic in a way fitting his creator.  Laserbeak could approve of him in many ways.  </p><p>They never spoke, but Predaking had ceased demanding to know of the reasons behind their presence.  They would arrive, observe, and then find one flaw to repair or advantage to offer him (through the technology he surrounded himself with; they spoke through actions, not true vocal offerings).  When finished, they left.  It was wordless.  It was clean.  It became routine of its own.  </p><p>In the war itself, neither would hesitate to take this mech down if he caused problems (neither had, in fact).  Neither had informed the other decepticons of his evident intelligence early.  But he was an easy choice when it came to upholding their recent orders to <em> mingle</em>.</p><p>Even if the predacon himself had no idea why they were there.  </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Raf</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Laserbeak might have made a friend.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Otherwise known as that chapter where I try a semi-crack friendship because I've wanted to since I posted chapter 69.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It circled to him in a roundabout manner.  Roundabout, but still quite possible (obviously, as it had occurred).  It was logical, if convoluted.</p><p>As far as observation went, it seemed likely that most social activities happened when made possible through roundabout, convoluted means.  This seemed to support the likelihood that she was, in fact, doing <em>this</em> correctly.</p><p>It had been so long since she'd tried to have companions.  Since Ratbat, she knew.  Since Ravage before him.  Since the deployer twins died together and her twin died alone.  Her fraction of a spark was hardly strong enough to imprint and bond on others.  Surely that was truly the case.</p><p>But small, damaged, flaring faintly- it was still a spark.  A split-spark at that.  </p><p>And split-sparks were meant to mesh with others.</p><p>Laserbeak considered the cycle laying ahead of her.  </p><p>Work.  </p><p>Surveillance.  </p><p>Recording a diplomatic session between the current world leaders.  </p><p>Analyzing that recording even if it was not their required task.</p><p>A jour with the human.</p><p>With him.  The predacon spent time with the autobot diplomat.  The diplomat spent time with his small organic companion.  The small organic companion...Laserbeak wasn't sure when she had begun to enjoy those moments, but she had. In fact, she was half surprised to feel herself seemingly looking forward to it.  </p><p>The feeling still seemed stilted.  But, no matter how dulled, <em> it was there. </em></p><p>Perhaps Lord Megatron had been right.  Perhaps this wasn't completely useless.</p><p>It wasn't as if she had anything better to do during this peacetime anyways.</p><hr/><p>A few orns after the war had ended, Laserbeak had deployed from her usual spot on Soundwave's torso and had glided around the room on the warship mostly unnoticed.  Her carrier was currently standing near the oldest predacon while he spoke with the former autobot scout.  </p><p>They did this so much.  She did not think anything new would come of it today.  So she took an initiative and left that dialogue.  </p><p>The warship was much as it was on a regular basis.  Lively.  Oddly lively.  Loud.  Strange and alien in its environment.  </p><p>There were humans aboard today.  The little one that had tried to hack against Soundwave sat with his human terminal on his lap.  She remembered him from those times spent fighting across a field others did not appreciate the complexity and action of.  She also remembered him in the medbay after Lord Megatron had ordered all decepticons to stand down; he'd tried to beat them at some human strategy game.  It was much like fighting his hacking ability.  They both stimulated the mind and stimulation could be read as light thrill and...that, she supposed, was that: she <em> enjoyed </em> playing a game of wits against him.</p><p>Maybe her enjoyment was only a fraction of what louder bots experienced, but it seemed it was there regardless.</p><p>Laserbeak flew down and landed on the tabletop he was sitting on.  </p><p>"Oh."  The boy looked up to see her perched over him.  </p><p>She was a small cybertronian, but he was still so tiny in comparison.  Rumble and Frenzy had almost been human sized, but even they stood as tall as she did.  And she could perch over the largest of the human autobots.</p><p>Speaking of him-</p><p>"Hey.  Hey!  You!" 'agent' Fowler gestured at her.  "Shoo!  Leave the kid alone!"  </p><p>Rather loud of him.</p><p>Then again, she had shot his vehicle down once (and grabbed him. and abducted him. and sent him into Starscream's servos.) so perhaps he had fair reasons.  </p><p>She wasn't planning on hurting the sparkling.  She tried to say as much.  The fact that speaking with a human was bound to fail aside, finding the right glyphs for her intentions was hard enough.  </p><p>A few were chirped.  As expected, Fowler was continuing his attempts to shoo her regardless of their size difference and the protests she'd offered.</p><p>"Wait," Raf presented the flat of his palm to the agent.  "She said she's not here to bother us."</p><p>More or less.</p><p>And he'd understood it.</p><p>Fascinating.  </p><p>"That so?" Fowler rolled his organic optics.  A sarcastic movement.  One shared cross-species.  Yet another to add to the list of peculiar convergent evolution.  </p><p>She bobbed her head (or rather, her upper body; she didn't have much in terms of a neck).</p><p>The point had gone across.  The symbiote was left alone by the grumbling agent.  </p><p>Raf spoke up at her, nervously at first but smoother as time wore on, about what he was doing.  It was rather elementary cybertronian translations, but impressive considering his origin.  Very impressive indeed.</p><p>Very strange.</p><p>She wanted to ask him how he knew what she said.  Very few cybertronians understood the languages of beastmode symbiotes.  Most of those were carriers.  A few were just outliers.  </p><p>This was an outlier among humans.  </p><p>She didn't know how to ask such a direct question.  It involved much more personality than just spouting off general glyphs.  </p><p>So Laserbeak kept silent on the matter, just as she did for all others.</p><p>For now.</p><hr/><p>He had all the calm and rationality of Ravage.  He had the youthful naivety of Ratbat.  He had the basic skeletal structure as Rumble and Frenzy.  And he had the quiet thinking of Buzzsaw, who had needed to go silent to concentrate.</p><p>In most ways, it was the former of which that he reminded Laserbeak of most.  His wit was apt to Ravage, though he lacked the self efficacy to express it as often as the elder symbiote had.  His personality would meld well with that symbiote.  </p><p>As unique as he was as himself, Laserbeak saw most as either dossiers (her clinical viewing) or a collection of the traits they shared with her dead siblings (her more personal viewing).  It was how she viewed the world.  It likely always would be.  </p><p>The human child shared a very nice collection of those remembered traits.  She determined she approved of him.  </p><p>Sometimes, they played games.  He was, after all, still a sparkling.  No matter how mature his skills were.  And sparklings like games.  Ratbat had adored them.</p><p>Besides- the games were never mindless.  They held edge, required strategy.  Laserbeak matched her carrier in intelligence through experience.  She could have made for a surveillance officer herself, had the two of them and Lord Megatron not hid her sentience.  It was rather nice to have a chance to use that experience through strategy.  Doing so was engaging, grounding to the moment.  </p><p>She found it so engaging that she began to play them even when the human was on Earth.  While she was docked on Soundwave and he moved around from room to room listening to the conversations there, she tackled puzzles and traps across the extranet with the human sparkling and was nearly blinded to those surroundings she should have been listening to.</p><p>Perhaps Soundwave would enjoy this too.</p><p>But he was busy.  He was always busy.  She should not distract him.  She should not displease him by engaging in frivolity while he worked.  </p><p>Excuses.</p><p>In truth, she merely did not know how to offer it to him.  </p><p>It would require direct speech to explain her offer rather than mere expressionary glyphs, after all.  </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I've seen quite a few Soundwave &amp; Raf friendship stories.  I love it, but I wanted to try something a little different: hence the Laserbeak &amp; Raf friendship instead.  The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do something with it.  So here we are :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Soundwave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>She wanted to see him happy again.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If she spoke with him, it was through glyphs.</p><p>A /<em>ready</em>/ glyph was sent when she was free to play a game.  A /<em>too tired</em>/ glyph was sent if she did not want to play any games that cycle.  They weren't her words.  They were someone else's glyphs that she and many others borrowed.  It was just how they worked.</p><p>Most of these symbols and expressions were chirped out.  It was one of her best methods of communication that lay open for this frametype.  The predacons no doubt could do so as themselves as well; they just had not discovered the ability or else the vernacular.  </p><p>If she wished to directly speak with someone, she needed to do it across a commline or a sparkbond.  She had not done so with anyone but Soundwave since her siblings died.  She had not done so with Soundwave since he took the vow of silence.  </p><p>That did not disallow her from using the limited vernacular of expressionary glyphs.  They explained an emotional state.  They sent across ideas.  They were impersonal but they did the job of communication clarity well enough.</p><p>
  <em> This is not correct. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> There is an error.   </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You are wrong. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You are right. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I can help. </em>
</p><p>The like.  They got an idea across but all were the same no matter who spoke them.  It was not a person choosing to say "I can help", but one who spat out the impersonal glyph for it.  </p><p>It meant that- even if she used them- she was not truly violating a vow of silence.  She was still a mute in terms of using her own language.</p><p>In truth, it hardly bothered her.  In truth, it felt like enough that she was using these more often now than in recent vorns.  </p><p>It ran into an issue regardless.</p><p>Raf could <em>hear</em> glyphs and understand their meaning even when condensed into a sound.  He could not <em>read</em> them. </p><p>So she had to send the sound rather than the shape.  He found it frustrating for the sake of energy expenditure (receiving sounds was more difficult for limited human technology, it seemed), even if he never seemed to find it frustrating to speak with her in person and hear only impersonal notes in return.  If anything, he found it intriguing.  It seemed that the autobot medic had been teaching him to read different cybertronian scripts.  It was a slow process, but he took it on as a challenge.  They had been sticking with basic and he already had an elementary grasp on the written code of the language.</p><p>As she had thought: outlier.  </p><p>While he worked through the medic's lessons, he devoted other time into researching the manner of 'speech' primarily used by his newest cybertronian companion.  They still played their games, but now he insisted she send her ready/not ready states in written form so that he could tackle understanding them.  One cycle, those glyphs became more interesting to Raf than games did.  Laserbeak moved to watching his work and observing his dissection of language.  It was rather interesting itself, in truth.</p><p>Most of the human autobots visited at least twice an orn.  It spent energon (synthetic or otherwise) but Laserbeak and Soundwave had been a part of the decepticon army for a very long time; Lord Megatron had rather liked expending fuel for extravagant plans.  They had no room to question the efficiency of the autobot visitations.</p><p>When Raf came through to 'spend the night', he spent his time with his autobot friends.  Some of that time, at least.  Then he would retreat with his laptop and work on top of a table or floor corner somewhere.  Laserbeak would perch over and either strategize against him or listen to his latest dissection of her manner of speech.</p><p>Currently, his complaint was that they "had no direct human alternative".</p><p>Laserbeak saw no issue there.  But she supposed it would make it harder for a human to understand and comprehend if there was no basis to compare it to.  </p><p>So she listened to his take on it all and occasionally did something in reply.</p><p>Mainly listened.  She liked to listen.  </p><p>Raf took the computer off his legs and set it on the ground beside him while he sighed.  On its screen were two open windows: a list he'd compiled from the glyphs she sent him and a collection of human shapes and letters.  They were pointed at for her benefit while he explained the problem he had with them.</p><p>"See?" he groaned and ground a servo into his optics.  "I just don't think there's a human alternative.  I mean, there's a few.  Acronyms, emojis, gifs I guess could count..."</p><p>When she (predictably) did not answer, he elaborated.</p><p>"You know.  Acronyms?  Like AWOL or MIA or other military ones, except for fun, everyday things?  LOL?  TFW?"</p><p>No.  Apparently she didn't bother to do needless human culture.</p><p>"Alright," Raf rubbed his optics.  "So I could type "lol" to you and what I'd mean is that I'm laughing out loud.  Except odds are I'm not actually doing that, it's just...it's an expression to say I found something funny.  That's what these are almost like: they're one 'word', in the easiest human translation, but they mean a sentence or phrase or something to express an emotion or state."</p><p>He was catching on.  </p><p>"And gifs or emojis, that's using a video clip or a picture and it's supposed to mean a phrase too.  But they're so much less structured than this.  This is using a singular sound and pitch and it's translated to writing as a shape, a glyph, that can be edited and changed depending on whatever other emotions the speaker is trying to portray.  Like a hieroglyph, maybe, but that's still not..."</p><p>Not...?</p><p>Raf groaned.  </p><p>"It's still not a direct alternative, is it?"</p><p>In truth, she thought all human language was impersonal.  Verbal sounds or written shapes made by others long dead that, when added together, took on meaning.</p><p>But obviously it was not the alternative he was seeking.</p><p>So she sent him the human letters "N" and "O" together and tittered when he laughed. </p><hr/><p>Cycles passed.  Cybertron grew.  Laserbeak lived.  It was a slower life than wartime had always demanded.  The slow speed of it was suffocating to both of them- but it was preferable to war.</p><p>Sometimes, Soundwave joined them.  Most of the time, he did not.  He made no comment on her absence and neither ordered a stop nor asked to join in to the strategy contests or puzzle solving.  Their spark always felt content upon her return, however.  Her own enjoyment filtered over and he in return was pleased at her happiness (even if he did not share much of his own past a stifled base level).</p><p>They existed together.  Their energy was shared; they worked towards the same goals; she was his optics, his attention, his reach in observation.  </p><p>They had a functioning that no others had now.</p><p>But it used to be more.</p><hr/><p>Laserbeak flickered around the early shape of a city.  She watched and recorded.  She was seen and hellos were tossed up at her that she did not repeat (but did nod to).  She won and occasionally lost against the little organic prodigy.  </p><p>Her mind connected to the moment again.  Even with millennia of watching the world, she had hardly focused personally on what she was seeing.  Full focus was hardly easy for a fractionary split spark.  </p><p>But it was possible.  She had forgotten how possible it used to be.  She had until she had begun to see more around her in the wake of the war's end.  </p><p>Laserbeak could flicker in the air above this city and truly notice what it was beneath her.  A new shop.  That was an observation.  A shop that was likely going to attract mechs like autobot rookie and seventeen of the vehicons in her databases.  That was an observation evolved from the merely flat original one.  </p><p>Information was one thing.  Understanding and utilizing information to see the world was another.  </p><p>It was not unwelcome.  No matter how different it was, it was an advantage- no, more than a technical advantage.  It was </p><p>nice</p><p>She liked it.</p><p>She liked this world built out of a wars end.  She liked getting to chirp or fly or match her mind against the human's.  She liked showing herself as more than a non-sentient drone.</p><p>Even if it wasn't as safe.</p><p>Even with the danger and disappointments.</p><p>But Soundwave.  Soundwave was not yet there.  He had never pretended to be a drone for safety reasons, but he hardly acted like the others with their noise and hobbies and opinions.  </p><p>How did he feel about that?  He did not tell her.  They spoke through their spark's state.  Stable energy meant stable minds.  Fluctuating energy meant otherwise.  There were no details or elaborations but they hadn't felt they needed them for quite some time.</p><p>The human liked details and elaborations.  He tried to wheedle opinions out of Laserbeak and laughed when she found a way to avoid answering directly.  She sent pictures and expressions and enjoyed watching his enjoyment.  It was a new game, a new challenge to outmatch each other.  If she spoke, he won.  If she found a way to avoid it, she did.</p><p>Outside of that challenge, it was no win though.  It was flat.  It lacked life.  Outside of their game, she started to wonder what it would be like to hold conversations with others.  It had been so long since she'd had siblings to hold dialogues with. </p><p>What was there to talk about?  Inane things?  What was the convenience to that?</p><p>It was <em>meant</em> to be inconvenient and inane.  It was meant to be as simple as 'how was your day' and nodding to whatever exposition followed.  It made the others happy.  The lack of it made her dull.  So perhaps it would make her happy too.  More importantly, perhaps it would make them happy.</p><p>Him happy.</p><p>She wanted him to feel happy again.  It had been so very long.</p><p>The symbiote finished her flyover and returned to the room where her carrier spent most of his time.  The door unlocked at her presence automatically and he turned to let her dock with wordless habit.  Their spark rested in proximity.  </p><p>And then she broke habit.</p><p>Laserbeak opened the communication channel that had long gone silent.</p><p>«I am here» she said.  </p><p>And, while Soundwave did not speak in return, she could feel his energy swell at her promise.  </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!  I didn't want to leave Soundwave and Laserbeak in the state they were in IICJKWYW, so I had hoped to give Laserbeak a little sequel of her own that could offer some moving on for the both of them.  I hope you all enjoyed!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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